FIG. 1 depicts a side view of a conventional magnetic recording apparatus 10. The magnetic recording apparatus 10 may be a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) apparatus. The conventional magnetic recording apparatus 10 includes a read apparatus 12 and a write apparatus 20. The conventional read apparatus 12 includes shields 14 and 18 and sensor 16. The read sensor 16 is typically a giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor or tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor. The write apparatus 20 includes a leading shield 22, coils 24 and 32, back gap 26, auxiliary poles 28, main pole 30 and trailing shield 34. Although not shown, the pole 30 may have leading and/or trailing edge bevels. In such cases, the pole 30 is shortest in the down track direction at the ABS. Side shields (not shown) may also be included in the conventional write apparatus 20.
Although the conventional magnetic recording head 10 functions, there are drawbacks. In particular, the conventional magnetic recording head 10 may not perform sufficiently at higher recording densities. For example, as recording areal density approaches 1 Tb/in2 and above, issues with wide area track erasure (WATEr) may be present for the conventional write apparatus 20. For example, the trailing shield 34 may not adequately function to preclude writing of distant tracks. Further, the field strength and profile of the main pole 30 are also desired to be managed for sufficient signal to noise ratio (SNR) and reverse overwrite (ReOVW). These characteristics may be affected by not only the pole 30 but also the leading shield 22, trailing shield 34 and side shields (not shown). Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for improving the performance of a magnetic recording head, particularly at higher areal densities.